Warnex Offers New Prostate Cancer Screening Service

Main Category: Prostate / Prostate Cancer
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 06 Mar 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Warnex Inc. (TSX:WNX) announced that its Medical Laboratories division has launched a new screening service for prostate cancer, the PCA3 assay. The Warnex PCA3 screening service for prostate cancer uses advanced PCR technology to detect mRNA from the prostate cancer gene 3 (PCA3). Warnex is the first laboratory to offer this service in Canada.

"We are pleased to offer this new prostate cancer screening assay, which is highly specific and more precise than all other available screening tests for the detection of prostate cancer," said Mark Busgang, President and CEO of Warnex. "The addition of this service to Warnex Medical Laboratories' service offering is part of our strategy to focus on specialized medical testing for the healthcare industry using advanced technologies."

The PCA3 test is a molecular biology assay that measures the expression of PCA3 mRNA in urine samples. PCA3 is specific to the prostate and is significantly up-regulated (60-100 fold) in prostate cancer. The test quantitatively measures PCA3 mRNA as well as PSA mRNA and determines their ratio. High ratios have been shown to be indicative of prostate cancer. PCA3 screening may help reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies. In addition, the test is non-invasive, eliminating pain and discomfort associated with biopsies.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Canadian men. According to Canadian Cancer Society, one in 8 men will develop prostate cancer during his lifetime and one in 27 will die of it. Prostate cancer usually grows slowly and can often be cured or managed successfully.

About Warnex

Warnex is a life sciences company devoted to protecting public health by providing laboratory services to the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. Warnex's analytical services division provides pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with a variety of quality control services, including traditional chemistry, chromatography, microbiology, method development and validation, and stability studies. Warnex's bioanalytical services division specializes in bioequivalence and bioavailability studies for clinical trials. Warnex's medical laboratories division focuses on genetic and biochemical testing for the healthcare industry and has extensive expertise in genetic testing for human identification, molecular diagnostics, and pharmacogenetics.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release are forward-looking and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, known and unknown. For information identifying known risks and uncertainties, relating to strategic options for the Company, financial resources and credit risk, laboratory facilities, suppliers, government regulations, key employees, key customers and business partners, foreign currency risk, volatility of share price, and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the heading Risks and Uncertainties in the Management's Discussion and Analysis for the third quarter ended September 30, 2007, which can be found at http://www.sedar.com. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results expressed in these forward-looking statements.

Warnex Inc.

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